The Senses In the Spirit World
- stephenstrent7
- 12 minutes ago
- 5 min read
Where Science Meets the Doctrine and Covenants, for the Come Follow Me lesson Dec 1-7; Doctrine and Covenants 137-138
Doctrine and Covenants section 138 was a vision given to President Joseph F. Smith in Salt Lake City, Utah, on October 3, 1918. Doctrine and Covenants 138:50 says, “For the dead had looked upon the long absence of their spirits from their bodies as a bondage.” Doctrine and Covenants 88:15 states, “And the spirit and the body are the soul of man.”
Kathleen and I have read many life-after-death accounts, especially after our son, Blake’s, death May 8, 2007. Without exception, as I recall, every person who has had a near death experience has felt the separation of their spirit from their body as liberating, and their return to their body as revolting—often described as akin to putting on a pair of wet, oily coveralls.
However, the verses cited above suggest that that feeling of liberation is only short-lived, and that post-mortal spirits begin to long for a body. In some cases, those spirits have been without bodies for thousands of years.
If we reconsider Doctrine and Covenants 129:6-7, we are told that, “If he [a messenger] be the spirit of a just man made perfect he will come in his glory; for that is the only way he can appear—Ask him to shake hands with you, but he will not move, because it is contrary to the order of heaven for a just man to deceive; but he will still deliver his message.”
Perhaps, then the one thing most absent and longed-for in the post-mortal realm of spirits is the sense of touch.
What about the other senses? For hundreds of years, since Aristotle first proposed five senses in his book, De Anima (On the Soul), around 350 BC, people have incorrectly believed that there are only five senses: vision, hearing, smell, taste, and touch. At the time of Aristotle, people also believed that there were only four elements: earth, air, fire, and water. However, we now know that there are 118 total elements: 92 naturally occurring and 26 artificially created. There are actually over 200 different senses, with over a trillion variations; but most people, for some reason, seem to be stuck on five senses. From a neurophysiological perspective, there are four main sensory nerve pathways in the spinal cord, which conduct different “touch” sensations. 1. The Dorsal Column-Medial Lemniscus Pathway conducts sensation for fine touch, vibration, and proprioception (the body's sense of position). 2. The Ventral Spinothalamic Pathway carries sensations of crude touch and pressure. 3. The lateral spinothalamic pathway carries sensations of pain and temperature. 4. The Spinocerebellar Pathway carries unconscious proprioceptive sensation from muscles and joints to the cerebellum. Furthermore, there are at least seven main types of touch receptors in the dermis alone: free nerve endings, Meissner's corpuscles, Pacinian corpuscles, Ruffini endings, hair follicle receptors, Krause end bulbs, and Merkel disks.1
In addition, there are three main types of visual receptors: rods, cones, and intrinsically photosensitive retinal ganglion cells (ipRGCs). Rod cells are very sensitive to light and are responsible for vision in dim, nighttime conditions. They also are important in detecting movement and in peripheral vision, but they do not play a major role in differentiating color, which is the function of cone cells. Furthermore, there are three different kinds of cone cells, which are sensitive to different wavelengths of light: blue, green, and red. The ipRGCs are involved in non-image-forming functions such as circadian rhythm.2
What is defined as “hearing” is far more, and involves two different types of balance as well: static and kinetic balance. In fact, the eighth cranial nerve, the vestibulocochlear nerve, is actually two separate nerves, which just happen to run together: the vestibular nerve, which carries static and kinetic balance via distinct, separate nerve fibers, and the cochlear nerve, which carries sound sensation.3
There are five primary taste sensations: sweet, salty, sour, bitter, and umami (savory). In addition, much of what we consider to be taste is actually smell, and ten basic categories of smell have been proposed: fragrant, sweet, fruity, citrus, woody, minty, pungent, chemical, popcorn-like, and decayed. However, because of small changes in the shape of smell protein receptors, it is estimated that there are at least one trillion different odors we can distinguish.4
A common experience among people having near-death experiences is that the flowers they see seem to actually emit light of various colors, greatly enhancing their visual experience. Another common experience is hearing music and/or voices. Many also seem to experience a sensation of floating. I am unaware of other sensory experiences in near-death accounts.5
I have pointed out in previous essays that spirit is a form of matter6 and that spirit, “dark matter” may be entangled with “regular, normal” matter right down to the molecular level. All the sensory receptors are chemoreceptors, mechanoreceptors, photoreceptors, thermoreceptors, or nociceptors (pain). All of those receptors have some interaction with natural chemicals or forces. If such is the case, then spirits may be able to perceive various and even numerous senses. This concept, then brings up the question: what is missing in the post-mortal world, causing spirits to long for their bodies?6 Given this discussion of the senses and spirit matter, I don’t know the answer to that question. Perhaps the answer is like answering the question, what does salt taste like? Perhaps the only way to answer that question is by experience—and, as far as I know, no one who has had a near-death experience has been in the spirit world long enough to feel the lack of a body as being a “bondage”.
To my knowledge, Doctrine and Covenants 138:50 says, “For the dead had looked upon the long absence of their spirits from their bodies as a bondage.” gives us a unique peek into the post-mortal world of spirits, but ultimately, at least to me, the insight is still confusing.
Trent Dee Stephens, PhD
References
1. Seeley, Rod, Trent Stephens, and Phil Tate, Anatomy and Physiology, Eighth Edition, McGraw-Hill, Dubuque, Iowa, 2007
2. Ibid
3. Ibid
4. Morrison, J. Human nose can detect 1 trillion odours. Nature 14904, March 2014
5. Near-death Experiences Illuminate Dying Itself, New York Times Oct. 28, 1986
6. Doctrine and Covenants 131:7-8
7. Doctrine and Covenants 138:50
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